Birds of a Feather
by Anne Nye
Summary: Sally Sparrow was used to seeing the world through the lens of her camera, but after the events of Wester Drumlins, her eyes were opened to so much more. And once you know it's there, it's impossible to stop looking. 3 years after the Angels, now working as a journalist, she's surprised to meet a different Doctor, but this time she's not saying goodbye so quickly.
1. The Companion Who Never Was: Prologue

So, after seeing Blink, one of my favorite all-time Who episodes, a part of me always hoped Sally Sparrow would come back. It's hard to explain exactly, but there was just something I loved about her character, and I would have really liked to see her work more personally with the Doctor again. I've thought about trying to write a Sally companion fic for years, and during my summer boredom have finally decided to give it a go. I really don't have much planned out yet, but this snippet came to my head so I decided to post it for starters and see if it got any reaction.

**The Companion Who Never Was – Prologue**

"I'm telling you something weird is going on here," the young woman insisted, speaking in a half whisper into her mobile. One hand was clutching the phone to her ear, while the other was hanging on to a torch. The light was almost comically small considering the building she was in was nearly pitch black, but it was better than nothing.

"Sally," the voice on the other end spoke with a small sigh, "You are a brilliant investigative journalist. Slightly bonkers, maybe, but you've given me some great stuff over the past year," he added, and she could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "But of all the stories you've chased down, when have you ever actually discovered an "alien" or whatever as a culprit, or even had any real proof of one being involved?"

She immediately stopped in her tracks with a small huff. "Monty, it's not like you can deny the existence of aliens. Not after all the other incidences."

"I'm not saying aliens don't exist Sal," he said with another sigh. Sally would without a doubt hate anyone else calling her "Sal", but it was a bad habit she had decided to let her editor get away with. "I'm just pointing out they never play a role in any of these mysteries you chase after."

The young woman was preparing another rebuttal, but paused when she heard a noticeable creek in the floorboards above her. Instantly turning the torchlight upwards in the direction, she saw bits of old dust and wood falling through the seams. Something was definitely causing movement above her. "Right then," she said, remaining completely casual. "Letting it go since you did call me a brilliant journalist," she said, a small hint of teasing quality in her tone for good measure.

He chuckled lightly. "Night Sparrow. And watch yourself. Don't let whoever…or whatever…this is snatch you up too." She knew Monty was simply trying to tease her as well, but she thought she heard at least a touch of genuine concern.

"Oh you know me sir. Wouldn't dare leave a story unfinished," she said, with a small smile to herself, before ending the call with a slide of her finger. Tucking the phone safely into the pocket of her vest, she heard another creak of the floor, now about five meters ahead of her. She started to walk forward again, following the sound above her while trying to remain as quiet as possible in her own brown leather boots. "Alright, Sally," she muttered, removing the lens cap from the camera that had been around her neck this whole time. "Let's go see who shouldn't be home."

**OoOoOoOoOo**

Like I said, really just a snippet, but I do have a next full chapter in mind if I decided to go through with this.

Otherwise, thanks for reading!

~ Nye


	2. The Encounter

There's no real excuse, I only have a vague outline of this story and wasn't sure how to go about an update, but I cranked this out in my spare time. Hopefully I'll be more inspired for future chapters.

For now, thank you so much for all who reviewed and had great things to say about this idea!

Disclaimer: I absolutely own nothing related to Doctor Who, this story is all in good fun.

• • • • • • • • •

Sally Sparrow did not consider herself a particularly brave person. True, she had always been fairly confident in herself, along with being occasionally bold in a social context and persevering when she needed to be. But brave? To her that word had always seemed like a much bigger concept than anything she actually held.

A lot of things changed the day she met the Weeping Angels, though. She didn't stop being afraid. If anything, she understood there were many more things in the world to be afraid of than she could possibly comprehend. However, that day in Wester Drumlins, she did discover something more important. Even if she was afraid, that wasn't going to stop her. If there was something to be done, something to be discovered, she refused to let fear get in the way. So while she still may not know if she was actually brave…well, maybe being unfailingly determined was close enough.

That familiar feeling was sitting in her stomach right about now, as she stood at the bottom of the staircase, torchlight pointed slightly upwards to illuminate the first few steps. The feeling that she knew this was potentially quite dangerous and admittedly idiotic, but also the drive to keep going.

Sally was in this neighborhood to begin with because of "the disappearances". That's what the local papers had called it. No evidence of people being kidnapped or running away, just simply disappearing. Even stranger, there was absolutely no consistency. So far fifteen people had gone missing in the small town, and they were across all ethnicities, ages, incomes; absolutely no two persons were alike. And it was just the kind of mystery that Sally Sparrow wanted to get to the bottom of.

She chose to explore the old, abandoned mansion on a pure whim. It was pretty much the largest building in the small town, and she figured if anyone or anything were hiding out, it would be in here. The fact that someone else was creeping around upstairs either meant she was right, or they were just as mad as her to investigate this place at night.

Another audible shuffle pulled the young woman out of her thoughts, reminding her of her purpose. "Now or never," she muttered to herself, and started to walk up the stairs, as quietly as possible. Occasionally she hit a crack and caused a small creek, but overall she managed to make it to the top of the grand staircase without drawing too much attention. When the path split on the second floor, she veered off to the left, trying to remember where she had last heard the footsteps moving.

As she traveled down the barren hallways, though, Sally began to doubt her theory more and more that this house was any kind of clue. There had been no signs on the first floor that anybody else besides herself had been there recently, and so far the second floor was equally untouched. In addition, there was dozens of things in a place like this that could cause noise. A stray animal, a rat or bird…in a place this old, it could have simply been the sound of the floors falling apart. "Maybe Monty was right…maybe this hunch is a stretch even for me," she thought, slowing her pace to a standstill.

The young woman didn't usually waste time doubting herself. You have the choice to believe something "is" or believe something "isn't" and it didn't do any good to fall somewhere in the middle, tearing yourself in all sorts of direction by thinking you just didn't know what to believe. Everyone should make it clear where they stand. Still, even while she knew for a fact that there were other creatures in the universe, perhaps it was time to stop jumping to the thought that every weird occurrence or creepy story meant "alien".

As she began to turn around, Sally made sure to keep her chin held high, determined not to appear sorry for herself even if she was all alone. The blonde only made it a few steps, when her torch light, projected several feet in front of her, suddenly landed on an almost fluorescent green looking substance…or perhaps green looking goo was the more accurate term. Titling her head, she brought the light in closer, crouching down slightly. "Rot of some kind?" she wondered quietly to herself…funny how she hadn't noticed it before.

Without really thinking about it, her fingers touched it lightly. It was surprisingly cool to touch, and she only had a moment to process that her skin was tingling slightly from where she made contact, before she heard a low, gurgling sound, just at the end of the hallway. While admittedly not the most threatening of noises to hear, something about it made her heart rate pick up slightly. She straightened herself carefully, the light now extended out passed the decaying floorboard and frayed wallpaper. There was a very brief moment where she thought maybe she was only hearing things again, but then the torch landed on…it.

It was hard to put delicately what "it" was, because in short the best way to describe it was a giant mass of ooze. Its coloring matched what she had found in the floor, a transluscent green with a slight glow to it, but through its body she could see strange things like a twig, a small ball, several pieces of junk and more had settled in the middle, like things its body had just picked up along the way. For a moment she was oddly reminded of a jello mold, and she almost chuckled. For its shape and size, though, she imagined it must be what a snail without a shell looked like, and then you blew it up to the size of a tall man. It even moved a bit like a snail as it slowly began to lurch towards her…

Her eyes widened as she replayed her own sentence in her head…it was coming towards her. She was suddenly frozen still, half of her almost pleased at the thought that she had finally done it, she had found an alien! The other half was screaming, "Move your bloody arse Sally Sparrow there is a giant alien slug coming at you!" Before she had time to process, though, someone made a decision for her. Hearing footsteps behind her, she only glanced slightly to note a somewhat lanky, thankfully human, figure coming towards her, who didn't slow his fast pace as he grabbed her hand while passing her. "Time to go!" he exclaimed almost cheerfully, dragging her along with him before she could protest.

They hugged closely to the wall and flew past the creature before it could reach them, then rounded the corner sharply before dashing down the rickety staircase. Sally could tell her mouth was hanging open like a fish, still flabbergasted by the last thirty seconds, but made a point to snap it shut as they continued out the front door. They kept running until they were settled into the long dirt driveway, then halted almost as quickly as they had started.

"There we are, that should be far enough! Not very fast creatures as you can probably tell, could stop for jammy dodgers at this point and it would still be five minutes behind," he said offhandedly, pulling up the watch at his wrist, speaking as if she was completely clued in as to what was happening.

Sally was briefly frozen again, as the man paced slightly, going back close enough to peer in the windows as if checking for something. She took a moment to take in his appearance. He actually didn't seem to be much older than her, with a full head of floppy brown hair, and a perhaps a slightly more slender than average frame. Not to mention the rather square chin, but altogether not unattractive in the least. While he looked her age, though, he dressed like one of her previous 70-year-old professors, complete with tweed and suspenders.

She swallowed thickly, finally finding her voice. "What…was that?" she asked, and was surprised at how calm she sounded despite the fact her pulse was still racing. Giant blob monsters may not be fun exactly, but at least it was no Weeping Angel.

"Ggels, two G's," he replied, only half paying attention to her as he pulled out a small silver device with a green light on the end. "Which is a bit of an ironic name, not that they would know that," he added as an afterthought, pressing his finger on the device as it suddenly made a high pitched humming noise.

She was about to speak up again, when her hand that was holding the torch suddenly when numb and slack, and the object fell to the ground with a clatter. "I can't feel my hand!" she couldn't help but exclaim, now sounding slightly panicked.

That seemed to get his attention, as he turned to look at her, aiming his own device at her hand. "Did you touch it?" he questioned immediately.

Sally shifted her stand a little. "Well, I touched a pile of…something on the ground," she replied, feeling a bit foolish now. "But I was investigating!" she continued, almost as quickly feeling the need to defend herself.

"Oh that's so human. Find something new and you have to poke at it," he said, his tone chastising, but she didn't miss the light smile that played at his lips. "Its mass is coated with a paralytic substance, it's what help its catch prey even though it's slow. No worries, it should wear off in a bit."

"Right, no worries…just a paralyzing ooze monster," she thought sarcastically. The man turned away from her again, and her eyebrows rose ever so slightly. There was something strange about the way he said "human" earlier, though admittedly all of his mannerisms and his words were currently a bit strange. "So who are you then?" she asked, crossing her arms (doing her best to ignore her awkward, hanging numb hand) and settling into what Kathy used to call her 'I mean business" tone. "Certainly not the local police…and if you're another writer that I don't mean to be rude but this story is already taken."

The man looked a little amused by that, but shook his head lightly. "None of the above. I'm the Doctor," he said proudly, then looked at her almost expectantly for her reply.

At first Sally's brown eyes widened in surprise. Now there was a name, or perhaps more a title really, that she hadn't thought about it years. True, he was occasionally in the back of her mind, especially when she first started this job. Whenever an incident occurred which seemed alien, occasionally when she rounded a corner she wondered if one of these days she was going to see that blue box. Sometimes she found herself simply wondering small things like what exactly was he going to do with that bow and arrow the first and last time she met him in the street. But that was just it. She had made the decision a long time ago that that was indeed the last time she would see "The Doctor", end of story. No taking the middle ground, remember? But she was okay with that. He opened her eyes to the world, to the universe, and that was all she needed. Or at least…that's what she told herself.

His face clearly fell when the surprise wore of, though, and she suddenly laughed. "No…you're not," she said, her turn to be amused. Of course, the first time hearing that name mentioned in years would be upon finding a genuine alien.

"Course I am. Bowtie, sonic screwdriver, running away from aliens…The Doctor!" he insisted, his expression nearly in a pout for being doubted, his fingers straightening out said bowtie as he talked.

Sally sighed lightly. "Look, I don't know who could have possibly put you up to saying that, but I've met the Doctor, and you're not him," she said, as if that settled it. "And if you're not here for work or to help, then I would also appreciate you not messing around with me," she added pointedly.

At her words he suddenly took a step closely to her, regarding her with such a sharp but curious gaze that she almost felt uncomfortable. "What do you mean you've met him?" his tone somewhat soft. "What's your name?"

The blonde was silent for a moment, suspicion clear on her features, but then she rolled her eyes gently, deciding to go along with whatever this was for now. "Sally. Sally Sparrow," she said simply.

As if on reflex his expression brightened, "Sally Sparrow, good name!" he replied casually with a smile, but a beat later there was sudden and surprised recognition on his face. "Oh…OH!?"

• • • • • • • • •

Again, thanks to all those who have already shown an interest in this possible story!

Until next time,

~ Anne Nye


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